We don't like Bank of Ireland

Should you have to pay more for a credit card if you live in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the UK? Bank of Ireland appears to think so, asking residents of the province to cough up a 22.4% interest rate compared with the 18.9% it charges if you live in England, Wales or Scotland.

The 18.9% standard rate puts it towards the bottom end of the big banks, and compares poorly with the
13%-15% rates obtainable with a little shopping around. Its balance transfer rate, at 13.9% is not very attractive either.

Stuart Glendinning from Moneysupermarket.com says: "This is the only standard credit card on the market to go through the 20% threshold. This card has almost no redeeming features. There's no offer for purchases and there's no cashback facility either."

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About this article

We don't like Bank of Ireland

This article appeared on p21 of the Jobs & Money section of the Guardian
on Friday 6 June 2003.
It was published on
the Guardian website
at 21.32 EDT on Friday 6 June 2003.
It was last modified at 04.54 EDT on Wednesday 17 September 2014.